Just before 8:30 p.m. Sunday police had arrested Benjamin Hudon-Barbeau and two other suspects in a location about 50 miles north of the prison.

CNN reported that the pilot of the chopper had been hijacked by gunpoint by two men posing as tourists.

Yves Galarneau, the correctional services manager who oversees the Saint-Jérôme jail said he’d never seen anything like Sunday’s dramatic escape and that there are no security measures in place to prevent a helicopter from choppering in over the grounds.

“As far as I know, it’s a first in Quebec,” he told reporters at the scene. “It’s exceptional.”